IF your feeding them you will be very please how well they grow. I didn't realize how fast perch grew. They start to slow down a bit after 11"s but up to 11"s they get there fast.
I learned last year that if the water stays a bit cooler the larger ones will grow better. I started running the aeration shorter and only at night. This was Bill Codys advice and the reasoning was that the larger perch grow better with the water staying cooler than the 80's I think.
Cheers Don.
Originally Posted By: canyoncreek
Loretta, I think if your perch are ready to lay eggs they will lay eggs regardless of if the bottom conditions are not ideal or not. However my perch are completely ignoring my branches and instead are laying them on the leaves in very shallow water. My branches are out about 6' from sure with 2' of water below the branches. Then we had the big rain yesterday and now the butt end of the branches need to be pulled back up the bank. Of the 5-6 trees I put in only one has a ribbon on it and that is about 1' out from bank in shallow water, maybe 1' or so. At least for my pond, the perch seem to want to be right in the 10-12" water range and seem to like to lay them right over the oak leaves. Next to the trees I see 4-5 new ribbons all laying right on top of leaves, some in water less than 1'.
Don, my YP stocked last April, have grown pretty fast. I was a bit surprised to see some pretty small males. I guess about 5". They also seem small because they are so much more slim, than the females. Most all the small YP stocked last April are 8-11" now. I'll be very happy, if they all get to that length by next spring.
Canyoncreek, you are seeing the exact thing I am. The oak leaves are pretty thick near the bank, 90% of the 50+ ribbons I've seen are all laying in the leaves. I didn't exactly put the right type of branches out, but I'm not sure it would have made any difference. They really seemed to prefer very shallow water, next to the bank. I imagine I'm going to have some successful hatch out of all those.
Thanks Jeff
12 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (decreasing), SMB, and HSB (only two have been seen in 5 yrs) I think that's about all I should put in my little pond. Otter attack in 2023.
